MONACO 1856 - 1949

MONACO Timeline

Charles III becomes reigning Prince of Monaco upon the death of his father Florestan I.

1857

Napoleon III is unsuccessful in his bid to negotiate an end to the Sardinian protectorate over Monaco and to obtain a 4 million franc indemnity for the Grimaldis.

Charles III organizes La Société des Bains de Mer (Sea Bathing Company) to operate a gambling concession in Monaco. After failing to entice François Blanc, operator of the Bad Homburg casino in Germany, Charles grants exclusive rights to construct and operate a casino, hotel, a number of villas and transportation between Nice and Monaco to Albert Aubert and Napoleon Langlois.

November

La Société des Bains de Mer opens a casino in the Villa Bellevue on the Spélugues Plateau. Monégasques are forbidden by law to place bets.

The old French garrison opposite the palace is converted into the Hôtel de Russie.

Prince Charles III establishes the Order of Saint Charles for service to the prince or state of Monaco.

May 28

Pierre Daval, having no more success in operating the casino than Aubert and Langlois, in turn sells his interest in La Société des Bains de Mer to a syndicate headed by the Duke of Valmy, a former investor in the successful Bad Homburg casino. Day to day operation of the concession is turned over to François Lefebvre.

1859

April 26

France sides with Sardinia against Austria in the Second War of Italian Unification. Communications between Nice and Monaco are disrupted and the Villa Bellevue casino is closed and Lefebvre moves the operation to the old garrison on the Rock of Monaco.

July 12

The Treaty of Villafranca ends the Second War of Italian Unification. Sardinia cedes Nice to France. Travel between Nice and Monaco resumes and La Société des Bains de Mer puts the 60 passenger steamer Charles III into service with daily sailing between the two ports.

1860

June 17

Sardinian troops are withdrawn from Monaco and the principality is restored to the status of a French protectorate.

During the Year

The Hôtel d’Angleterre and the Hôtel de Paris open. La Société des Bains de Mer posts a year end operating loss of 80,434 francs.

1861

February 2

Charles III cedes all rights over the towns of Menton and Roquebrune to France. In return for 80% of his realm, Charles receives an indemnity of 4,100,000 francs. France further agrees to construct a carriage road from Nice to Monaco and to route the proposed railway linking Nice and Genoa through Monaco.

During the Year

Charles III makes an unsuccessful attempt to claim Cap Martin and the olive groves extending from it to Roquebrune.

The casino hosts a record 27,872 visitors and turns a profit of 640,000 francs in the first year of operation under François Blanc.

December 31

A New Year’s Eve gala is held in the restaurant of the rebuilt Hôtel de Paris.

1865

January 1

The new casino featuring La Salle Mauresque, a gaming room designed by Monsieur Dortrou, and gardens laid out by Monsieur André, opens for business.

July

The rebuilt Hôtel de Paris now modeled on the Grand Hôtel in Paris opens for business.

November

The Hôtel de Paris’ bathing establishment opens on the beach at La Condamine under the management of Doctor Gillebert d’Herbourt.

1866

June 1

The Spélugues Plateau is renamed Monte Carlo in honor of Prince Charles III.

During the Year

The carriage road along the coast between Nice and Monaco is completed.

Construction of the Nice – Genoa railway via Monaco is begun.

Prince Albert, heir to the throne of Monaco, joins the Spanish Navy.

1868

March 1

Prince Albert resigns his commission in the Spanish Navy and embarks on a tour of the United States and Canada aboard the Isabelle of Verona.

1869

Prince Charles III abolishes all forms of direct taxation on native Monégasques after François Blanc persuades him that 2,000,000 franc annual profits of La Société des Bains de Mer are sufficient to cover the cost of running the principality.

1870

July 21

Prince Albert joins the French Navy following Napoleon III’s declaration of war on Prussia.

1871

May 21

The Treaty of Frankfurt ends the Franco Prussian War and requires France to pay Germany an indemnity of 5 billion francs. Prince Charles III agrees to provide France with 2 million francs per annum at the insistence of François Blanc who reasons that the victorious Germans, having outlawed casinos in their own country, will be less likely to interfere in the operation of Monte Carlo if they are secretly and indirectly compensated.

1873

Prince Albert buys L’Hirondelle, a 200 ton schooner with a crew of 15, and spends several months cruising the waters off West Africa. Upon his return to Monaco, Albert accepts a commission as captain in the Spanish Navy.

1875

January

Prince Albert resigns his commission in the Spanish Navy following the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of Spain.

1878

The Committee Against Monte Carlo for the Suppression of the Gaming Tables is formed by the leading citizens of Menton, Nice and Cannes in an unsuccessful effort to pressure the French government into closing the casino which they believe gives Monaco an unfair advantage in attracting tourists.

1879

January 25

La Salle Garnier opens with a performance by Sarah Bernhardt. The theater was designed by Charles Garnier architect of the Paris Opera under contract to La Société des Bains de Mer.

During the Year

François Blanc dies leaving control of La Société des Bains de Mer and a fortune of 72 million francs to his son Camille.

Prince Albert sails to Graciosa in the Azores aboard the Hirondelle for a visit to the Furna da Caldeira cavern, hydrographic work and studies of marine life.

1880

July 28

The Vatican annuls the 10 year marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Mary Victoria and at the same time declares their son Louis legitimate.

1888

The Société des Régates de Monaco (Regatta Association of Monaco), the first Monégasque sports association, is formed to promote, encourage and develop water-borne sports such as sailing and rowing.

1889

September 10

Albert I becomes the reigning Prince of Monaco upon the death of his father Charles III.

October 23

Albert I, who was at sea when informed of his father’s death, returns to Monaco and takes the oath of loyalty in the courtyard of the princely palace.

Twenty one cycling enthusiasts form Le Sport Vélocipédique Monégasque (Monaco Cycling Sports Association) which is quickly affiliated with the French Cycling Union.

During the Year

Camille Blanc agrees to renegotiate the terms of La Société des Bains de Mer’s concession after banker Michel Heine intimates that his daughter, Princess Alice, may use her influence to close the casino unless the Prince receives better terms. A new contract is signed providing for an immediate payment of 10 million francs to the Monégasque treasury and a further payment of 15 million francs due in 1913. Another 5 million francs is to be paid for harbor improvements, 5 million francs to local charities, 2 million francs for construction of an opera house and a subsidy of 24,000 francs for each performance. The Prince is given an additional 1,000 shares in of La Société des Bains de Mer and 125 million francs plus 3% of the first 25 million francs staked on the gaming tables. 1891

Englishman Charles Wells breaks the bank at Monte Carlo not once but several times turning 10,000 gold francs into a million over 3 day period.

1892

Charles Wells good fortune inspires composer Fred Gilbert to write the English music hall classic The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.Charles Coborn introduces the song at the Trocadero. The audience hoots him and the song off the stage. Coborn persists declaring, "I am engaged here for twelve weeks, and I am going to sing this song every night, and repeat the chorus, till you join in with me." Three months later it is sung and whistled all over London.

1893

Romanian impresario Raoul Gunsbourg begins a 59 year career as Director of the Monte Carlo Opera. The company led by Australian diva Nellie Melba presents nine operas in its first season, six comedies including two starring Sarah Bernhardt and four operettas.

1896

January 31

Henri Charpentier, a 16 year old chef at Monte Carlo’s Café de Paris, creates a special dessert consisting of crepes flavored with Curacao and mandarin orange juice for the Prince of Wales and his guest. The future King Edward VII reputedly names the flaming confection after his companion, “Crepes Suzette”.

1898

January 27

French composer Jules Massenet makes his first visit to Monte Carlo to conduct a concert of his works.

Prince Albert sails to Spitzbergen accompanied by Kiel zoologist Karl Brandt, a specialist in plankton dynamics and Scottish polar explorer and oceanographer William S. Bruce. The expedition conducts some of the earliest at sea studies of the upper atmosphere using hydrogen filled kites.

1901

French physiologists Charles Richet and Paul Jones Portier discover the protein mechanism that triggers anaphylactic shock while studying toxic reaction to contact with the Portuguese Man of War jellyfish during a voyage aboard the Hirondelle with Prince Albert.

1902

February 18

Jules Massenet makes his first official visit to Monte Carlo for the premier of Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame. Prince Albert presents the composer with the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Charles during the intermission.

May

Prince Albert officially separates from his wife, Princess Alice, whom he suspects of having an affair with composer Isidoro de Lara. The Princess leaves Monaco to take up residence in London's Claridge Hotel. De Lara does likewise but the royal couple never divorces.

During the Year

The Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Charles is awarded to King Edward VII of Great Britain & Ireland. As Prince of Wales, the arrival of his yacht Britannia marked the start of the annual season in Monte Carlo at the turn of the century. The Prince would insist on being addressed as Baron Renfrew and placed small bets in an effort to avoid public notice.

1903

Prince Albert creates the Institute of International Peace, a forerunner of the League of Nations and United Nations, to prevent war through arbitration of international disputes.

Prince Albert establishes the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris and the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology in Monaco.

1904

Camille Saint-Saëns opera Hélène premiers at the Monte Carlo Opera with Dame Nellie Melba starring in the title role as Helen of Troy.

Lillie Langtry, famed English actress and former mistress to King Edward VII, among others, becomes the first woman to break the bank at Monte Carlo and retires to Villa Le Lys, her cliff top home overlooking Monaco.

1908

The Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Medal is awarded to HSH The Prince of Monaco: "for oceanographical studies off the coast of Spitsbergen".

1909

Cigarette magnate Alexandre Noghès is elected President of Sport Automobile et Vélocipédique de Monaco conceives the idea of staging a mid-winter automobile rally to compete with the carnival in the rival seaside resort town of Nice. The rally would be organized along the lines of the famed Convegni Ciclisti rally in Italy with entrants departing from different cities across Europe and converging on Monaco.

Prince Albert inaugurates the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco which houses the specimens he has collected during his 28 scientific voyages across the seas between the Cape Verde Islands and Spitzbergen and throughout the Azores. Jules Massenet is present for the ceremony which is accompanied by the strains of his composition La Nef triomphale.

April 4

A crowd of 600 Monégasques marches on the Palace demanding to see Prince Albert and threatening revolt if nothing was done to stem the practice of giving most high paying jobs to foreign nationals.

The French garrison in Marseilles is put on alert and 300 sailors from a Royal Navy flotilla anchored nearby at Villefranche are dispatched to Monte Carlo to protect British subjects in the principality.

June 19

Prince Albert approves formation of a municipal council composed of 4 Monésgasques elected by Monégasques.

October 16

Prince Albert, under pressure from the newly elected council, appoints 3 French jurists and his son Prince Louis to write a constitution in consultation with himself and the council.

During the Year

French aviator Henri Rougier takes off from the Quai Antoine I in a biplane on a successful flight over the foothills of the Maritime Alps.

1911

January 5

Prince Albert grants Monaco's first constitution. A National Council elected by universal suffrage is established. The principality is divided into the communes of of Monaco City, La Condamine and Monte Carlo and a municipal council and budget for health, education and welfare is established for each of them. Roman Catholicism as the state religion. A public domain is ceded from the Grimaldi estates.

January 28

French cyclist, aviator and race car driver Henri Rougier is declared the winner of the 1st Monte Carlo Automobile Rally. The event began with 23 entrants converging on Monaco from 11 European cities. Rougier’s victory was awarded by the judges on a somewhat arbitrary basis including the elegance and physical condition of the Turcat-Mery on his arrival from Paris. There are cries of scandal when the results are published but it was, nevertheless, a glamorous event.

During the Year

Prince Albert takes command of his largest and last research ship the 1,650 ton L'Hirondelle II.

Monaco hosts the first Schneider Cup Race for seaplanes. The race won by Maurice Prévost of France in a Deperdussin. Prévost is the only competitor to complete the 270 kilometer course. Roland Garros finishes second in Morane-Saulnier followed by Gabriel Espanet and American Charles Weyman in Nieuports.

June

Prince Albert sails for America by way of the Azores and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland aboard the Hirondelle II.

August

Prince Albert is received by Alexander Graham Bell at the inventor’s Beinn Bhreagh estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. September 9

The Hirondelle II docks in New York where Prince Albert spends a day outfitting his party for a big game hunting expedition in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.

September 13

Prince Albert and his entourage arrive in Cody, Wyoming where they are guests of honor at a meeting with the local Indian chiefs before being escorted to Camp Monaco on the banks of the Shoshone River by his guide Colonel William F. Cody.

During the Year

Prince Albert lays out the Exotic Gardens on the Observatory Cliff for the purpose of preserving and reproducing the flora the semi-arid and desert regions.

Prince Albert, having a sailed to Kiel for the annual regatta aboard the Hirondelle II, is on board the Imperial Yacht Meteor when the Kaiser is notified that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria has been assassinated in Sarajevo.

August 2

Germany declares war on France. Prince Albert sets the Hirondelle II which is at sea on a direct course for Monaco to allow its French crew to respond to the mobilization order.

August

Prince Albert declares Monaco’s neutrality and suspends the constitution to allow rule by decree. Despite the neutrality declaration, hospitals and convalescent home are established for Allied soldiers in the principality’s hotels.

August 19

Prince Louis returns to active duty in the French Army as Captain of Cavalry in the 5th Army under General Franchet d’Esperey.

Prince Albert, under pressure from the French press and more confident of Allied victory, reinstitutes the constitution. The document is revised to separated administrative and judicial powers, the 3 communes are a merged in to single municipality and membership on the National and Municipal Councils is limited to Monégasques.

1918

January

Emile Flach is named acting Minister of State.

July 17

A new treaty defining relations between France and the Principality of Monaco is signed. France agrees to uphold the Principality’s independence, sovereignty and territorial boundaries. Monaco agrees to exercise its sovereignty in conformity with the political, economic, military and naval interest of France; to consult France before engaging in international relations and grant the French Government right of approval over succession to the throne.

November 11

Prince Albert is notified of the Armistice by telegram while visiting the Grimaldi estate at Marchais near Nancy, France to assess the damage inflicted during the German occupation when the word of the war’s end comes.

During the Year

Camille Blanc sells his interest in La Société des Bains de Mer to arms dealer Sir Basil Zaharoff after Prince Albert refuses to accept a reduction in his annual payment from the casino. Zaharoff double the minimum bet and appoints his own board of managing directors.

Victor de Sabata begins an 11 year reign as chief conductor of l’Opera de Monte Carlo.

1919

February

Georges Jaloustre begins a 4 year reign as acting Minister of State.

May 16

Prince Louis II, having no legitimate heir, legally adopts his daughter Charlotte (born to Marie Louvet in Constantine, Algeria; September 30, 1898) to prevent the succession to the throne of Monaco by a German prince. French President Raymond Poincaré and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen PInchon sponsor the adoption.

June 28

The Treaty of Versailles is signed – under Article 436, “The High Contracting Parties declare and place on the record that they have taken noted of the Treaty signed by the Government of the French Republic on July 17, 1918 with His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco defining the relations between France and the Principality.”

During the Year

Prince Albert creates the Madrid based International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean.

The Monte Carlo Opera presents the first performance of Jules Massenet's opera Amadis ten years after the composer's death.

June 27

Prince Albert I dies in Paris at age 74. The Prince gained renown for his interest in Oceanography. Prince Louis II ascends the throne and is promoted to Brigadier General in the French Army with which he served in Algeria between 1899 and World War I.

Sir Basil Zaharoff sells his interest in La Société des Bains de Mer to a consortium of French bankers.

1925

March 21

Victor de Sabata conducts the premier of Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges at l’Opera de Monte Carlo. March 29

An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Sport Automobile et Vélocipédique de Monaco adopts President Alexandre Noghès’ suggestion that, “due to the ever-increasing size of the club, its name should be changed to Automobile Club de Monaco.” Anthony Noghès is dispatched to secure the club’s recognition by the International Association of Automobile Clubs but is rebuffed because the ACM had failed to organize a motor sports event in its territory. On his return to the principality Anthony teams up with racecar driver Louis Chiron to organize a grand prix race through the streets of Monaco.

1926

Charles Wells, an English con-artist who won £400,000 in two incredible runs on the roulette wheel and the inspiration for the 1890s music hall favorite The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, dies a pauper at age 85.

The National Council of State resigns en masse to protest interference by the directors of the Société des Bains de Mer, operators of the Casino de Monte Carlo, in matters of state.

December 26

The Monte Carlo Municipal Council resigns en masse in support of the National Council of State. Prince Louis II appoints his son-in-law Prince Pierre to head a committee composed of 3 members of each council to investigate the matter. The Committee agrees to postpone any decision regarding the powers of the gambling syndicate until the end of the winter tourist season.

1929

February 12

Lillie Langtry dies of bronchitis at Villa Le Lys, her cliff top home in Monte Carlo, at age 75.

March 29

Prince Louis II refuses to authorize scheduled elections. Prince Pierre’s committee resigns. The Prince refuses to see a delegation sent to urge new elections. 500 Monégasques invade the palace in protest and are dispersed by police. The Prince announces that elections are to be held in June and promises a new constitution.

April 14

Prince Pierre inaugurates the 1st Monaco Grand Prix race for automobiles with a lap of honor in a Torpedo Voisin driven by course director Charles Faroux. The race is won by Anglo-Frenchman Charles Grover aka “Williams” driving a Bugatti 35B painted in British racing green. Williams covers the 100 lap 318 km circuit at an average speed of 80.104 km/hr. Monégasque Louis Chiron is missing from the starting line having opted to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

During the Year

The International Hydrographic Bureau established ten years earlier following the London Hydrographic Conference establishes its headquarters in the port of Monaco.

1930

March 20

Prince Pierre is granted a separation from Princess Charlotte by Monegasque Court in Paris fueling further anti-Grimaldi sentiment.

March 30

The Pro-Grimaldi faction sweeps elections.

April 6

Frenchman René Dreyfus wins the 2nd running of the Grand Prix de Monaco.

May 7

Prince Louis annuls the results of the March election on constitutional grounds.

May 18

Eugen Marquet, Mayor of Monte Carlo, leads the pro-Grimaldi faction to a second electoral sweep.

July

Prince Louis returns to North Africa with his old commander Marshal Franchet d'Esperey and Governor General Pierre Bordes for ceremonies marking the centennial of the French conquest of Algeria at Foreign Legion headquarters in Sidi bel Abbes.

July

Monégasque councilors who were dismissed in favor of Paris bankers gather at the Hôtel Negresco in Nice to plot Louis removal from the throne by force if necessary but agree to await reforms after an impassioned appeal by Princess Charlotte.

July 26

A Franco-Monégasque Convention signed in Paris requires certain numbers of Monégasque civil service and judicial positions to be filled by French nationals. Monégasques are to be given access to a reciprocal number of positions in the French civil service.

December 22

Prince Louis II removes Eugen Marquet from the Council of State leadership after Marquet’s brother’s real estate firm goes bankrupt. The Prince is greeted by a hostile demonstration on his return from Paris.

December 26

Prince Louis dismisses the Council of State and the Municipal Council and suspends the constitution with the support of the French Foreign Office.

1931

April 20

Native Monégasque Louis Chiron wins the 3rd Grand Prix de Monaco

November

Prince Louis, under pressure from the Paris bankers, establishes a Monégasque Assembly of handpicked loyalists.

During the Year

René Blum forms the Ballet de l’Opera a Monte Carlo.

1932

January

Maurice Piette becomes Minister of State.

January 5

Les Ballets Russes returns to Monaco to participate in the opera season at the Theatre de Monte Carlo.

April 17

Italian driver Tazio Nuvolari wins the 4th Grand Prix de Monaco.

April 20

Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo is formally registered as a Monegasque Company under the direction of René Blum and Colonel Wassily de Basil. George Balanchine is named Maitre de Ballet, Leonide Fedorovich Massine, head of choreography.

June

Henri Mauran begins a 5 year reign as acting Minister of State.

1933

January

Princess Charlotte informs Prince Louis of her intention to renounce her right of succession in favor of her son Rainier. A regency council is appointed to rule in Rainier's name should his grandfather die before Rainier reaches the age of 21.

February 18

Princess Charlotte is granted a divorce from Prince Pierre in a Monaco court.

France and Italy legalize roulette. Casinos spring up in Nice, San Remo and the Venice Lido.

1934

April 2

French Algerian driver Guy Moll wins the 6th Grand Prix de Monaco

May 9

Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo divides into two performance companies René Blum and Colonel de Basil continue to head the original company. Serge Grigoriev and Bronislava Nijinska lead the new company.

1935

April 22

Luigi Fagioli of Italy wins the 7th Grand Prix de Monaco in a Mercedes-Benz.

November 14

20th Century Fox releases Hollywood's version of The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo starring Ronald Colman as a White Russian nobleman left destitute by the revolution who manages to break the bank but then warns others to take heed of the odds and stay away from the tables.

1936

April 13

Rudolf Caracciola of Italy wins the 8th Grand Prix de Monaco in a Mercedes-Benz.

Italy declares that the presence of military installations along the coast of Monaco makes the officially neutral principality a de facto ally of France. Mussolini’s troops enter the country to the cheers of the resident Italian community. Prince Louis is allowed to remain on the throne and allies himself with the Vichy regime in France in hopes of staving off a annexation by Italy in the event of an Axis victory.

During the Year

Raoul Gunsbourg is forced to resign as Director of the Monte Carlo Opera because he is a Jew. Gunsbourg escapes over the Alps to Switzerland shortly before the authorities attempt arrest for espionage.

1941

Jean Eugene Charles, a Swiss Nazi, is dispatched to Paris where he collaborates with Carl Anton Schaeffer, a German administrator in the Bank of France, in organizing a money laundering scheme funneling funds through Monaco.

1942

March

Radio Monte Carlo is launched with German and Vichy capital to broadcast Axis propaganda to the Mediterranean coast and North Africa.

Monaco is occupied by German forces after Italy signs an armistice with the Allies.

September

Adolph Eichmann telephones Reichs Security Headquarters in Berlin to report the escape of approximately 15,000 French Jews into Monaco. Eichmann goes on to say that the Government of Monaco has agreed in principle to their capture within Monégasque territory should Berlin request it.

September 21

Reichs Security Headquarters forwards Eichmann’s report to the German Foreign Ministry with a request for consideration of an appeal to Monaco for permission to roundup Jewish refugees in the principality. Foreign Ministry Jewish affairs specialist von Thadden rejects the request as premature after the German consulate in Monte Carlo and the Security Police in Nice report the number of Jews in Monaco is approximately 1,000 not 15,000. September 30

Eichmann meets with von Thadden. He disputes the consulate’s estimate of 1,000 Jews living in Monaco and cites the SD Chief of Southern France as the source of his 15,000 estimate. Eichmann agrees to telegram the responsible SD unit and request a review of the matter in light of the “astounding difference” in the two estimates. October 22

Eichmann’s deputy Guenther reports to the Foreign Ministry, “it has meanwhile been established that there are in the territory of Monaco not, as was formerly believed, fifteen thousand Jews, but only 1,000 to 1,500 Jews available and ready for deportation." Thereafter no distinction is made between Monégasque Jews and refugees from France.

1944

May 30

Princess Charlotte again renounces her right of succession in favor of her son Prince Rainier.

July

Swiss Nazi Jean Charles establishes the Banque Charles in Monte Carlo to facilitate the smuggling of Nazi funds out of occupied Europe with the acquiesence of Prince Louis II.

The German consul in Monte Carlo reports there are no more than 40 to 50 Jews left in Monaco.

August 15

Radio Monte Carlo stops broadcasting following the Allied landings in Provence.

September 3

Monaco is liberated by the U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division.

September 28

Prince Rainier III volunteers for service with the Free French Army and is commissioned a Second Lieutenant. The Prince is posted to the headquarters of General Monsabert's 2nd Corps and is later awarded the Croix de Guerre and Bronze Star for service in the Alsace campaign.

November

Pierre de Witasse replaces Emile Roblot as Minister of State.

1945

June 26

Radio Monte Carlo resumes broadcasting under French and Monégasque control.

August 5

Motor racing returns to Monte Carlo when soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 36th Infantry Division stage regularity trials using Jeeps and GMC trucks.

1947

January 16

Prince Rainier III is awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Legion of Honor (Croix d’un Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur).

1948

May 16

Giuseppe Farina of Italy wins the first post-war Grand Prix of Monaco in a Masseratti.

1949

May 9

Prince Rainier III succeeds to the throne upon the death of his grandfather Prince Louis II.